Italian label converter Emmedue Srl has installed a Mark Andy Digital Pro 3 flexo/toner hybrid press at its plant in Gravellona Toce close to Lake Orta. The new press is seen as the beginning of a new era for the company that has specialised in label printing for the Italian domestic market for many years. Now, it aims to focus on selling its labels to nearby Switzerland.

Company owner, Maurizio Maffioli explained: “Digital printing is an integral and essential part of every label converter’s plan to grow and develop its business. It improves customer service especially on shorter run jobs that need variable text and graphics. We see Digital Pro 3 as the perfect solution for our current and future needs.”

Founded in 1984, Emmedue specialises in label printing for a variety of customers in industries as diverse as automotive, food, and logistics. “Digital Pro 3 is our first digital press devoted to roll-fed printing. We believe it will help us expand our markets and open new doors to completely new sectors like beverages, and especially wine producers,” he added.

Digital Pro 3 offers inline combined flexo and digital print units as well as die cutting. Emmedue is impressed by its production speed of up to 23 m/min in full CMYK mode. This makes for efficient production of small and medium runs printed on different substrates, without pre-treatment. And another benefit is that its modular concept will allow the company to expand the press as needs grow, making it a future-proof investment.

Emmedue is the first Italian converter to install a Digital Pro 3. Mr Maffioli explained: “I have followed Mark Andy’s activities on social media, especially LinkedIn and watched presentation videos of its equipment on YouTube shown to us by FDM Srl, their Italian dealer, who were instrumental in guiding us through this key investment. We already knew that Mark Andy was a longtime supplier to the label industry and that its presses have a great reputation for reliability.”

He said that his company was looking for a digital solution that would fit its current printing department and create new market opportunities. It would also need to help the existing production lines by increasing the added value element to meet customers’ expectations on the increasing number of shorter runs. Before the Digital Pro arrived, this work was printed traditionally, which kept the customers satisfied, but was often inefficient for Emmedue.

“We chose a Digital Pro because it incorporates the benefits and strengths we expect from digital technology. Print quality is always a top priority for us, but we also needed repeatability, variability, and speed of delivery. The inline flexo unit allows us to apply varnish or cold foil in one pass, and the semi-rotary die-cutter allows us to use many of our existing dies. That’s why the Digital Pro 3 matches our expectations perfectly,” he added.

Speaking for FDM, Sales Manager Enrico Firenze commented: “We realise how important digital technology is for the development of self-adhesive labels in today’s market and knowing of Mark Andy’s long experience and expertise in this sector, we believe the Digital Pro 3 is the perfect machine for printing with inline finishing both for start-up businesses and existing label converters that need to reduce the time and cost of offline finishing of their digitally printed labels.” Digital Pro prints direct from PDF files with a 1200 dpi resolution and is equipped with an easy-to-use RIP. The press handles a wide range of substrates without any pre-treatment, like primer, offering significant time and money savings.

This wide substrate capability is of particular interest to Mr Maffioli. “There are eco-friendly and special papers used for wine labels that are suitable for offset printing but give poor results when flexo printed,” he said, adding” Now we can offer shorter delivery times, on a wider range of labels in different runs, without any compromise in quality and repeatability. We can also add value in prepress, making pre-production samples to evaluate the impact of the final packaging for real, not just as a video. This will allow us to modify graphics or size if necessary.”

Once the Digital Pro is fully integrated, the company plans to expand its e-commerce business too with the addition of a dedicated b2b service for the production and delivery of labels to small and very small customers, like micro-breweries and artisanal food suppliers, who need quality from a label printer that has years of experience and can support their low volume production.

Speaking for Mark Andy, Regional Sales Manager Josep Balcells commented: “The Digital Pro series was introduced at Labelexpo Europe in 2019 and immediately attracted interest from the market. We are very pleased with its growing popularity on a global scale, including this first installation in Italy. Emmedue highlights how important a Digital Pro can be for a well-established label printer, offering further product development and growth.”

This product diversity will enable Emmedue to reach a completely new range of customers and provide inspiration for other traditional flexo printers whose customers expect more diversity. Digital Pro gives efficient production of different label versions on shorter runs, leading to new market opportunities. These include co-operation with small local vendors, and individual consumers who need labels very occasionally. “Emmedue is the perfect example of a printer that has observed a market very carefully, identified the changes and responded to them with the most appropriate investment. Mark Andy is very proud to be a partner in this process,” he concluded.

FDM is new to the Mark Andy stable but the company dates back to 1986 in the Italian label market. Today, it represents a portfolio of high-quality manufacturers and has an established and well-proven reputation for its knowledge and customer support. As CEO, Mr Della Vedova, commented: “We are proud to be representing Mark Andy technology in Italy and look forward to building on this first installation at Emmedue with many more customers.”